Reviews

Black Forest – Dream
Released 3rd March 2018
Reviewed 6th March 2018 by Korpi
To my bewilderment, I keep finding myself reviewing various power metal-esk bands of the “symphonic melodic death metal” variety, AKA those who walk a similar path as Jari Mäenpää. To that effect, enter Black Forest....

With the exception of solo projects, rarely in metal is reviewing an album considered reviewing the artist behind it, but with Jari Mäenpää this is definitely the case. In 2004 Jari released the debut album of his pet project Wintersun and made bold claims about spearheading a sub-genre called “sym...

I think back to the times of headbanging to Cannibal Corpse covers at the local civic center and say to myself, "Those were the days." But when Cannibal Corpse covers become Avenged Sevenfold covers and straight long hair turns to straight edge tattoos there's no going back; or so I thought.

With releases like Destroyer 666’s Wildfire, Vektor’s Terminal Redux, Insomnium’s Winter’s Gate, Mithras’ On Strange Loops, and Dark Tranquillity’s Atoma, I’d say the year has been decently rich with releases I’ll be listening to for a long while. There was one band however that certainly stood out...

Roadtrip Setlist Mini-Reviews:
Bloody Hammers - A Lovely Sort Of Death
Released in 2016, A Lovely Sort Of Death by US-based Bloody Hammers features an interesting mix of something reminiscent of Type O-Negative with some kind of 80s goth and maybe a bit of the doomy-er portions of Triptykon or Celtic Frost.

Dark Tranquillity have managed to take all the elements I hate about gothenburg and turn them upside-down with mature songwriting that transforms these genre staples into bittersweet offerings with a certain depth I had yet to hear from any gothenburg release.

Shroud of Despondency - Forced To Wander Into NothingReleased December 2002Reviewed 13 January 2017 by Korpi
In supplement to our recent Michigan Metal Podcast, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on an older release by Shroud of Despondency. Shroud is one of those bands who has moved through styli...

Album Review: Akercocke - ChoronzonReleased: November 4th, 2003Review: December 21st 2016 by DoomMaster
With the array of tit-and-goat laden album covers leading up to and including Choronzon, Akercocke leave little room for interpretation concerning the music played and the message conveyed. But,...